Review by Booklist Review
The team that brought us Memoirs of a Goldfish (2010) reunites for another day-by-day diary of a pet whose life isn't as boring as it first seems. This hamster has it going on, proclaims the cute little rodent after boasting about his bowl of sunflower seeds, his water dispenser, and his FuzzyBoy 360 hamster wheel. All would be perfect if not for the temptation planted by the family cat. The staircase is made of sunflower seeds, purrs the villain. And the sunroom is filled with yogurt drops. Eager to visit this utopia, the hamster busts out only to be trapped behind the sofa by the cat and chased by the dreaded Hoover. It's a classic story of the grass is greener, concluding, of course, with the hamster very satisfied to be back in his cage, even if it means suffering through smooches on the nose from the little girl. Scillian's low-key sense of humor is perfect for our daffy protagonist, while Bowers' art has a timeless, adorable appeal. Life is hard off the hamster wheel, you know?--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Seymour, a hamster, has the ideal life, according to his day-by-day memoir. He's got a bowl of seeds, a full water bottle, and a cozy bed of wood shavings. And it gets even better when the FuzzyBoy 360 exercise wheel arrives. Now Seymour's day is filled with activity and the delicious yogurt drops brought to him by Little Girl. He couldn't want for anything more, right? Wrong. When a wily cat starts talking about the wonders of the sunroom filled with yogurt drops, the gullible hamster escapes the cage to discover what he's missing. What he discovers is a dog, the cat, and an "enormous monster" called Hoover that is very dangerous to small rodents. Bowers's representational artwork captures the life of a hamster well, and the facial expressions of the animals will delight young readers. There's lots of white space and the text and pictures flow well, allowing readers to absorb the action. This title should hit the mark, especially in classrooms in which hamsters are in residence.-Sharon Grover, Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, WI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Seymour the hamster's life is perfect until he's lured out from his cozy, safe cage by a conniving cat promising Seymour coveted yogurt drops. He spends a harrowing few nights hiding under the sofa and narrowly escapes a monster (the vacuum). This close-up portrait of hamster life, narrated with dry humor by Seymour himself, is illustrated with verve. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A scary foray into the wide (indoor) world cures a hamster of any yen for adventure in this variation on the creators' Memoirs of a Goldfish (2010). Seymour the hamster is quite comfy in his pen, thank you--until lured into engineering an ingenious escape by Pearl the cat's teasing promises of a staircase made of sunflower seeds and a sunroom filled with yogurt drops. But Pearl turns out to be a "big, fat liar," and Seymour's adventure turns into a frantic flight not only from her, but also from Buck the dog and, most frightening of all, a roaring monster called a "Hoover." The arrangement of Seymour's chatty exposition into 14 "Nights" is a clear contrivance--he supposedly spends Nights 11, 12 and part of 13 cowering under the sofa before the watchful Pearl falls asleep and he can make a break--but the pacing is suitably breathless. His hamster-ish outlook is effectively conveyed in his narrative and in Bowers' low-angle cartoon views of a chubby-cheeked, bright-eyed pet who, though once susceptible to temptation, clearly enjoys the familiar comforts of wheel and water bottle--to which he is returned following a last-second rescue by his human yogurt-drop supplier, Little Girl. "Question: Who's the luckiest hamster in the world? Answer: ME!" Readers will probably agree. (Picture book. 6-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
